Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Emerging in 19th-century France, Impressionist art embraced loose brushwork and plein-air painting to respond to the movement of daily life. Although the pioneers of the Impressionist movement — Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir — are now household names, their work was a radical break with an art scene led and shaped by academic traditions for around two centuries. These academies had oversight of a curriculum that emphasized formal drawing, painting and sculpting techniques and historical themes.
The French Impressionists were influenced by a group of artists known as the Barbizon School, who painted what they witnessed in nature. The rejection of pieces by these artists and the later Impressionists from the salons culminated in a watershed 1874 exhibition in Paris that was staged outside of the juried systems. After a work of Monet’s was derided by a critic as an unfinished “impression,” the term was taken as a celebration of their shared interest in capturing fleeting moments as subject matter, whether the shifting weather on rural landscapes or the frenzy of an urban crowd. Rather than the exacting realism of the academic tradition, Impressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings represented how an artist saw a world in motion.
Many Impressionist painters were inspired by the perspectives in imported Japanese prints alongside these shifts in European painting — Édouard Manet drew on ukiyo-e woodblock prints and depicted Japanese design in his Portrait of Émile Zola, for example. American artists such as Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase, who studied abroad, were impacted by the work of the French artists, and by the late 19th century American Impressionism had its own distinct aesthetics with painters responding to the rapid modernization of cities through quickly created works that were vivid with color and light.
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Artist Comments
Inspired by the aerial view of pedestrians from a hotel balcony in Paris, this impressionistic painting depicts a stylishly attired woman strolling with her c...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Warren Keating depicts a gentleman he frequently encounters on the rail trails in Santa Fe. His bright red suspenders sparkle against the stark desert la...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
From an aerial perspective, the figurative painting of a bicycle rider establishes a flat space and a distinctive viewpoint. The combination of muted grays and ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Warren Keating draws inspiration from the pedestrian view below his hotel balcony in St. Germain. This piece encapsulates the moment and character of a l...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
In his signature style, artist Warren Keating draws inspiration from a character he saw on a Santa Fe Plaza restaurant balcony. Using perspective and textural, ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
My work is about the rediscovery of the poetry and beauty in the everyday, and this painting was inspired by my view from a pier of the pedestrians and bicycl...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
I hope my work inspires you to rediscover the wonder and joy in the everyday. This contemporary figurative painting was inspired by the view from my hotel balcony of the pedestrians walking below me. Using my signature Pixel Impressionist brush strokes, I created the motion of the walking figure and my passion for the subject.
About the Artist
Warren Keating's paintings start with documentation. He captures subjects on video from birds-eye views, digitizes the film on his computer and, finally, paints them on canvas in an active style he describes as Pixel Impressionism. He merges artistic elements of the 20th Century with 21st Century technology. Warren credits Futurism as well as Richard Diebenkorn and Willem de Kooning as influences in his paintings. Fun fact: Warren’s inspiration for this series came from a vacation to Paris where he photographed passersby from his hotel balcony in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Words that describe this painting: aerial view, contemporary, figurative art, Impressionistic figure, people in motion, mobile phone, cowboy boots, walking, people, man, urban portrait, Paris, Gerhard Richter, impressionism, people, fashion, representational, oil painting, grey, blue, yellow
Cowboy Boots and Cell Phone...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
This contemporary figurative painting was inspired by my viewpoint from a pier in California of the pedestrians and cyclists below. My signature brushwork ren...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
This contemporary figurative painting was inspired by my aerial view of the pedestrians below from my hotel balcony in Paris. My signature Pixel Impressionist...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1880s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Board, Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1950s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
